


Half A Mind

by MechanicalRhythm



Category: Disgaea (Games)
Genre: Disgaea Trick or Treat, Gen, Light Swearing, blood ment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 11:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21301526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechanicalRhythm/pseuds/MechanicalRhythm
Summary: After forming a hive mind, the Prinnies working at the Overlord's Castle revolt and successfully take over. Laharl has a plan to get his castle back, but it doesn't sit well with Etna or Flonne. Written for Disgaea Trick or Treat 2019 for amuk.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Half A Mind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amuk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/gifts).

> This was created for Disgaea Trick or Treat, a gift swap hosted by @cosmicApproach

In an uncharacteristic display of coordination, the Prinnies working at the Overlord’s Castle were lined up in perfectly symmetrical rows in front of Laharl’s throne. So symmetrical, in fact, that you could measure the distance between each Prinny and find they weren’t even a millimeter off center. This was achieved because they were a hive mind now, of course.

A rebellious Prinny sat on the throne, sitting upright with his flippers firmly crossed as he gazed upon his brothers-in-arms. Aside from being unusually cocky, the only distinguishing feature about this Prinny was a black-and-yellow royal crown atop his pin-shaped head. Beyond being a fashion statement, the crown was the reason the Prinnies now of one mind and heeded their leader’s every command. This crown generated powerful magic that synced his mind to anyone he touched and anyone that his mind slaves touched.

Prinnies were pitifully easy to defeat, so when they banded together and announced they would take over the Overlord’s Castle, every one of Laharl’s vassals burst out laughing. A gargoyle on the scene didn’t hesitate to pick up the Prinny with the crown and chuck it into the crowd of Prinnies he walked in with. Instead of exploding on impact (which would have been hilarious but have definitely killed everyone present), the Prinnies immediately caught their leader with insane reflex. That wiped the smiles off everyone in the room. More demons tried throwing Prinnies into each other, but the result was the same every time. With that single weakness accounted for, the Prinnies proved shockingly difficult to defeat.

Every vassal in the castle was either chased out or were forced to surrender and tied up and gagged. Etna, Laharl and Flonne and were eventually alerted to the uprising.

“How could you all lose to a pack of Prinnies?!” Laharl shouted at his vassals upon arriving at the scene. Muffled screams were their response.

Laharl wasted no time attacking the crowd of Prinnies. Within seconds, he was overwhelmed by the Prinnies and forced to retreat, his back covered in Prinny daggers like he was in the middle of an extreme acupuncture. Flonne and Etna tried to repel the army as well, but they were quickly overwhelmed. With the Overlord humiliated, the Prinnies were able to seize control of the castle effortlessly.

But that wasn’t enough. Laharl, Etna and Flonne managed to escape after their defeat, and the crowned Prinny felt hollow sitting on Laharl’s throne knowing that he was still out there. There was still work to be done.

The crowned Prinny stood up and raised a flipper, and every Prinny in the room raised their own without missing a step.

“My fellow Prinnies!” he shouted. “Too long have we been under the oppressive heel of Laharl and Etna, dood. We work day and night to keep them happy, and they reward us with terrible wages and physical torture, dood. They delay our reincarnation for their own petty desires. Alone, we could never hope to fight back.”

“But now, we are one, dood!” said every Prinny in the room, as one. “Screw reincarnation, dood! Revenge will be ours! Kill Laharl, dood! Hoo-rah!” Every Prinny began chanting “kill Laharl!” until their little penguin lungs were ready to give out.

If only the Prinnies weren’t so preoccupied with hyping themselves up for the upcoming bloodbath, they might’ve noticed Laharl, Flonne and Etna had been hiding behind the throne for two hours. Laharl sat Indian style, his back covered in stab wounds, while Flonne and Etna awkwardly contorted their bodies to conceal themselves behind the throne.

“_Great_ hiding spot, Prince,” Etna hissed. “They’re gonna find us eventually.”

“Don’t blame me,” Laharl whispered. “Blame Flonne for letting the Prinnies get their hands on that crown.”

“W-Well, the Prinnies shouldn’t open packages that aren’t theirs!” Flonne said. Each of their whispers were growing concerningly louder.

“Why would you buy something called the ‘Hive Crown’ off the Netherworld Shopping Channel to begin with?”

“When the store said you’d ‘achieve a hive mind’ by wearing it, I thought that meant you could summon bees from your head!”

Before Laharl could rebuke, the crowned Prinny spoke once more. “Do you hear that, my fellow Prinnies?”

The trio felt their hearts sink into their chest; an event that may as well caused the Netherworld to freeze over.

“That’s right! It’s the howling of the winds of change, dood! They’re finally blowing in our favor!”

The trio exhaled.

“Aha, they blow once more! Come now, let’s take to the castle and kill those bastards, dood!”

A single, boisterous war cry rang throughout the room as the Prinny army filed out of the throne room, the crowned Prinny right behind them. When they all finally left, the trio came out from behind the throne.

“Good thing putting their heads together didn’t make them any smarter,” Etna said.

“Oh, I hope Sicily hasn’t come back from food shopping yet,” Flonne said. If the Prinnies got to Sicily before they did, Flonne could only imagine the horrors they’d put her through. All because of her silly purchase…

“Who cares about that?” Laharl shouted. “What matters is getting back at those Prinnies for defying their Overlord!”

“Aww, you’d break your poor little sister’s heart if she heard that, Prince! Probably not as much as I’m gonna _break_ those Prinnies though.” Etna sneered and curled her hand into a fist like she was crushing something in her palm. Perhaps an imaginary Prinny skull. “Making _me _of all demons run and hide? I swear I’ll never let them live it down!”

Laharl couldn’t possibly agree more, but he already experienced first hand that brute force wasn’t gonna be enough. He actually had to do the unthinkable, which was actually _think_. He hummed quietly to himself, formulating a plan.

“If we can distract them all, we can kill their leader while his back his turned. Then, we take out the rest. Someone’s gonna have to act as bait.” He wasted no time turning to Etna. “You’re up, Etna!”

Etna only smiled back at Laharl, refusing to be provoked. “Prince, haven’t you ever heard of ‘the captain goes with the ship’? You let this happen under your own roof, so if anyone should go on this little suicide mission of yours, it’s you.”

“Aren’t _you_ the captain? They’re your vassals, not mine!”

“Oh, so suddenly they’re my vassals again when they make a mess?”

“Obviously!”

“Yeah, okay. How about instead of deciding this on semantics, we base it on something undisputable. Like height! The shortest one should be the decoy! Ohhh, so sorry, Prince, but that means you!”

With missing a beat, the hair antennae on Laharl’s head erect toward the ceiling and tower over Etna. He crossed his arms and grins smugly.

“There, now I’m taller. Off you go!”

This quippy banter between the two continued for what felt like an age. Eventually they upgraded from passive aggression to a full-on shouting match. After many flaccid attempts to interject, Flonne eventually lost her patience and made her presence known again.

“HEY!” she shouted, shutting the other two up. “Can we please calm for a second? You two shouldn’t be talking about using each other as bait!”

Laharl nodded along. “You’re right,” he said, being surprisingly agreeable. “I shouldn’t be talking about using Etna as bait.”

“Exactly!”

“_You_ should be the bait!”

“Exac…wait, _what_?!”

“You’re the idiot that bought that stupid crown. You should face the consequences!”

“Can’t argue with that,” Etna said, after doing nothing but argue for half an hour. “Sorry, Flonne, but it’s the right thing to do!”

Flonne shook her head. “No! You’re missing the point! You can’t always force us into dangerous missions like this!”

“Of course I can!” Laharl said, his expression dead serious. “As my vassals, you’re expected to do as I say, even if you die in the process!”

“Laharl, I _would_ die for you, but only because I love you!” Flonne stated, passionate and just as serious as Laharl. She saw Laharl’s face scrunch at the word ‘love.’ He was as childish as ever. Flonne had come to accept that about him, but even she got fed up every now and then. “I know that you value Etna, Sicily, and even me. I wish you would stop pretending that you don’t, just for one second!”

Laharl scoffed. “Stupid. The only thing I value is being known as the greatest Overlord who ever lived!”

“Liar! If we were ever in real danger, you’d risk your life to save us! You’re with me on this, right Etna?”

“Oh sure, the Prince is totally just putting on the tough guy act,” Etna admitted. “But I hope you’re not counting me in this little hugfest. You know if I could throw the brat into a crowd of murderous Prinnies, I would.”

“_Ugh!_ I hate when you two get like this! Aren’t they being ridiculous, Prinny?”

Flonne had turned to the entrance to the throne room. Etna and Laharl whipped their heads in that direction and, wouldn’t you know it, a Prinny was staring at them, unblinking. Realization dawned on Flonne, but before she could even utter an ‘uh oh,’ Prinnies flooded into the room and surrounded the trio.

Laharl acted quickly, brandishing his broadsword and lunging forward, attacking the front line of Prinnies with a horizontal slash. The Prinnies in front blocked the sword with their daggers and pushed Laharl back with their combined strength.

Laharl only barely managed to stay on his feet. “Damn you…!” he snarled.

The crowned Prinny made his appearance, hopping on the heads of his fellow Prinnies. He bounced from head to head, looking an excited kid hopping from stone to stone on a riverbank, before reaching the edge and lording over Laharl, Flonne and Etna.

“So sorry, ‘Lord’ Laharl, ‘Master’ Etna…Flonne,” the Prinny said, “but it’s about time you got a taste of karma, dood.”

Etna rolled her eyes. “Do you Prinnies even remember _why_ you’re Prinnies?” she asked. “Your entire existence is karma!”

“Who cares, dood. It won’t matter when you’re dead.”

“Like hell I’d let a Prinny kill me!” Laharl shouted. “I’d rather d…!” Wait. “D-Damnit! Take this!”

Laharl summoned a large fireball in the palm of his free hand and launched it directly at the crowned Prinny. Before it could reach its mark, two Prinnies sprung into action and deflected the fireball back at Laharl. The Overlord flinched, holding his sword up in front of him to shield himself. However, the fireball never reached him. Instead, he heard the fireball make impact with something else. He opened his eyes and saw Flonne in front of him, knocked down on the floor.

“Flonne!!”

The crowned Prinny laughed maniacally as Laharl and Etna cried out for Flonne.

“You’re next, dood!” he proclaimed. Every Prinny in the room brandished their daggers, primed for throwing. There would be no surviving their combined attack. “Ready, aim, and…!”

“Helloooooo? Big Brother?”

A familiar voice rang through the castle, causing everyone in the throne room to stop dead in their tracks. The scene stood frozen as Sicily continuing calling for Laharl.

“Big Brother, why is everybody here tied up and gagged? Is this some kind of weird punishment? Are you even home? I bought fish for dinner!”

Every Prinny perked up at the word ‘fish’. “Fiiiiish?” They turned around, toward the source of the voice, their beaks drooling over the thought of what Sicily brought home. Flounder? Salmon? Maybe even _sardines?_

Etna saw her chance and promptly took it. Taking out her spear and holding it like a javelin, she set her sights on the Hive Crown. She threw the spear and hit her mark, knocking the crown off the Prinny’s head.

“_Huh?!” _

Individualism and personality were restored amongst the Prinnies as the crown fell to the Prinnies’ feet. An overwhelming dizziness came over them as their minds pieced themselves back together. The Prinny that was supporting the leader on their head began staggering around, causing the leader to lose their balance and fall beak-first on the floor. He wasted no time picking his head off the ground and issuing a command to the Prinnies.

“The crown! Pick up the crown!!”

The Prinnies started to regain their grip on reality, but not soon enough to stop Laharl from charging in and swatting away all the Prinnies near the crown with his broadsword. Those who weren’t attacked shutter in fear as Laharl picks up the crown and stares them all down, murder blazing in his eyes.

Fear took hold of the leader Prinny, who was now groveling in front of Laharl.

“D-Don’t kill us, dood…!” he pleaded. “The crown just made us mad with power. Y-You know how it is, right?” He looked up, saw the look in Laharl’s eyes and was assured he did not, in fact, ‘know how it is.’ The leader bowed his head so fiercely that it slammed hard onto the floor, causing his head to bleed. “We’ll be good servants from now on, dood! We promise!”

“Negative salaries until further notice!” Laharl proclaimed. “And I’m not talking below minimum wage! You’ll have to go treasure hunting on your time off just to afford to work for me!”

“Hold on, dood!” A random Prinny interjected. “This is all that guy’s fault! We weren’t even in our right mi…!”

Laharl rushed up to the Prinny in the blink of an eye, pointing his broadsword directly in its face. The Prinny screamed and cowered.

“One more word and you’ll be paying me off the rest of your afterlives! Now get out of my sight!”

All the Prinnies wasted no time scuttering out of the throne room.

“_We’re sorry, doooood!”_

Laharl watched them make their exit before deciding what he was gonna do with the crown. He could lock it up in his room, but he didn’t want to risk any of his other vassals, _especially_ Etna, finding out about it and causing another incident. Instead, he unceremoniously chucked it into the pool of magma surrounding the throne room.

“Prince…!”

Etna’s pleading voice alerted Laharl to her. She was kneeling before Flonne, who was writhing on the floor, saying ‘owchie’ over and over in a squeaky voice.

“Flonne!” Laharl cried before kneeling in front of her as well. “What the hell were you thinking, jumping in front of me like that?! An attack like that could’ve killed you!”

Flonne looked up at Laharl and forced a smile. “Laharl…Why are you getting so worked up? I thought you said you expected me to die for you.”

“That doesn’t mean I want you to throw your life away, idiot!” Laharl explained. “You’re one of the strongest here! When I send you on a dangerous mission, it’s because I trust..!”

The word hung, and so did Laharl’s jaw. His face began turning red as Etna and Flonne stared at him, both surprised and yet not surprised at all at what he had admitted.

“I…I just don’t expect you to die like some low-level grunt, that’s all!” he said, sputtering out his defense.

Although Flonne was definitely suffering from third degree burns, the warmth in her heart was burning even bright. Her smile grew wider and tears were starting to form in her eyes.

“Oh, Laharl…!”

Laharl looked visibly annoyed over the looks he was getting. He hopped back onto his feet.

“Quit looking at me like that! Damnit, I wish my attack actually _did_ kill you!” He pointed accusingly at Flonne. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten whose fault this is just ‘cause you’re hurt! Next time you order one of your stupid toys online, you’re in charge of receiving the mail! Got it?!”

Etna couldn’t help but laugh at Laharl’s transparency. “Don’t worry, Flonne,” Etna said. “We both know Prince would die for you first. He couldn’t live with himself if anything bad happened to you!”

_“Shut up!”_

After following the trail of the fleeing Prinnies in the hallway, Sicily finally found her brother in the throne room. She came in holding a bag of fish from the market.

“Big Brother, _there_ you are! Why were all those Prinnies running away?” Sicily looked past her brother and noticed Flonne on the floor. She gasped and dropped her bag. “Flonne?! What happened?”

“Sicily, get over here and heal Flonne so she can get off of my floor!” Laharl demanded.

Although Sicily felt overwhelmed and had a mountain of questions, she understood they could wait until after Flonne was feeling better. She took out her staff and ran over to Flonne’s side, while Laharl walked away without a word. As Sicily (literally) worked her magic, Etna leans in to whisper to Flonne.

“Seriously though, jumping in front of the Prince’s attack just to prove a point? That’s pretty hardcore, Flonne. Is the Prince really worth that?”

“I think you would’ve done the same if I wasn’t there, Etna,” Flonne said with a wink.

Etna couldn’t believe half the things that came out of Flonne’s mouth. Still, that was part of her charm, and why Etna had grown so fond of her. 


End file.
